“Small and midsize businesses are using search in place of newspaper and magazine advertising,” said Marissa Gluck, managing partner at Radar Research, which conducted the online survey of 867 search-engine advertisers and agencies in December and January. “We’re seeing a definite shift from print. That’s because [search is] efficient, and [advertisers] understand what they are getting for their money.”
Gluck said search’s edge is attributable to its efficiency and easy-to-track ROI. “Advertisers are really looking for efficiency and they want to mitigate risk; and search engine marketing fulfills both of those because you only pay for those [online users] who click.”
The North American search marketing industry grew overall from $9.4 billion in 2006 to $12.2 billion last year, exceeding SEMPO’s earlier projections of $11.5 billion.
This year, it predicts spending will reach $15.7 billion.
An overwhelming majority of dollars spent in 2007 (87.4%) was captured by paid placement, while organic SEO garnered 10.5%. Technology investment nabbed 1.4% of spending, and paid inclusion, 0.07%.
Nine of 10 advertisers (89%) said they use SEO. More than half (56%) said they expected to spend more on organic search this year compared with last year.
( source btobonline)